American Car Owners Face Rising Costs

The average cost of owning and operating a car in the United States has been rising over the course of the last decade. According to the United States Department of Transportation, increasing maintenance, insurance and gas consumption has driven the average cost of a sedan to at least $9,122 per year.

Fixed costs are unaffected by mileage while variable costs increase with mileage. In 2012, these had reached $6,058 and $3,064 respectively, based on 15,000 miles of annual driving. Illustrating the scale of cost increases for American drivers, the average cost of owning and operating an automobile back in 2002 was just $1,589 less than in 2012.